FullBeauty to Acquire Plus-Size Brand Avenue

FullBeauty Brands is moving fast to build out its direct-to-consumer (DTC) base as it looks to grow annual revenue to $1 billion.

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The size-inclusive company on Tuesday signed an agreement to acquire Avenue Stores from City Chic Collective Limited. Avenue will be FullBeauty’s fourth deal in just over a year.

“We are excited to welcome Avenue to the FullBeauty Brands family, which we believe will further our leading position in size-inclusive fashion as the one-stop destination for great fitting, quality, on-trend, size-inclusive apparel,” FullBeauty’s CEO Jim Fogarty said. “Avenue is a unique opportunity for us to expand our offerings to our classic digital mall customers.”

Avenue targets the Baby Boomer demographic, and will be following FullBeauty’s playbook for its Catherine’s brand, Fogarty said. Catherine’s was acquired in 2020 for $40.8 million when its former parent Ascena Retail Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection. FullBeauty has been successful in transitioning the former store-based operation to an e-commerce brand that also targets Baby Boomers. Avenue once operated a 220-plus stores across 35 states under the banner The Avenue, but shut down that operation in 2019. Avenue was acquired by Versa Capital Management when its former parent United Retail Group Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2012. In August 2019, Avenue filed for Chapter 11 and was acquired in October of that same year by City Chic Collective.

Fogarty said the City Chic brand will continue to be sold on Avenue.com and by Dia & Co., the inclusive fashion online marketplace and personal styling service. FullBeauty acquired Dia earlier this year. The acquisitions of Dia, the digitally native fashion brand Eloquii in May 2023 and intimates brand Cuup in July 2023 help broaden FullBeauty’s reach to include the Gen X and millennial customers. Digitally native Cuup also helps FullBeauty learn a bit more about social marketing as that customer base feeds on short video snippets and snackable reel-style clips on Instagram and TikTok.

According to Full Beauty, the $81 billion women’s plus-sized sector is growing three times faster than the broader women’s apparel market. And even with the use of Ozempic, the GLP-1 weight loss drug, anecdotally, plus-size brands say their core customer has not changed their usual size preferences, nor have they seen a drop off in the number of customers. They felt the plus-size market remains underserved as standard-size retailers drop plus sizes from their assortment. That suggests that there’s plenty of runway growth ahead for the plus-size market.

Bill Bass, FullBeauty’s chief marketing officer, isn’t ruling out the possibility of more acquisitions down the road.

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“As a pioneer and leader in inclusive sizing with decades of experience in this sector, we know what it takes to build, incubate and grow successful size-inclusive brands, and we have the resources and track record to achieve this. We regularly explore brands that would strengthen our portfolio, complement our existing offerings, and have the potential to grow and scale under FullBeauty,” Bass said. “While we do not have specific brand targets at the moment, we are always exploring additional opportunities as we continue to build out our classic traditional mall and our new digital mall.”

The classic traditional mall operation includes Catherine’s and Avenue, when the deal closes. Other portfolio brands include WomanWithin, Roaman’s, Jessica London, Ellos, KingSize, Brylane Home and One Stop Plus. The new digital mall houses the contemporary brands, such as Dia, Eloquii, Cuup, June + Vie and Swimsuits for All.

Bass said that the top priority remains “keeping our business strong, growing and scaling our current brands, and continuing to service our customers.”

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